Meet the Chef: Kerri Rush: Fresh is first at W.D.M. eatery

Fresh Market and Cafe has locally-grown, raw, vegan, vegetarian food

Oct. 8, 2013

Special to the Register

Written by

Heather Torpy|Special to The Register

Kerri Rush is the owner, chef and farmer at Fresh Market and Cafe, 1721 25th St., Suite 110, West Des Moines. The cafe may be small, but big flavors loom in Rush’s dishes. She specializes in raw, vegan and vegetarian food. The cafe also has a presence at the Downtown Farmers Market in Des Moines every Saturday (through Oct. 26) at the corner of Third and Court.

What can people expect when walking into the cafe?

When you walk in you can’t miss us because we are surrounded by glass walls, and it is very small. Three tables seat four, three high-top tables seat two.

We have an open kitchen and you can see us prepare everything — we don’t have a back room to hide in. We’re very transparent.

Tell me about your menu.

It’s fresh! We change our menu every month depending on what’s in season, what we have an abundance of from our garden, the farmers market and the two farms, Table Top and Grinnell Heritage, that deliver to us every week.

Two items that are always on the menu. Those are the veggie burgers and the raw tacos. The veggie burger is full of quinoa, brown rice, beets, carrots, mushrooms, onions, garlic, chia and flax. It’s made into a patty and baked. It is vegan, gluten-free, oil and soy free. Our raw tacos are romaine leaves stuffed with our “meat” made from walnuts, sunflower seeds, sun-dried tomatoes and secret seasonings, topped with fresh avocado, house-made salsa and cashew cream. They are raw, vegan and gluten-free. (And I bet you can’t eat just one).

The rest of our menu usually includes a salad, noodle dish, grilled sandwich and a wrap. We always have soup (gluten-free and vegan) that changes daily.

Which items sell well?

Wheatgrass is on the top, of course. But believe it or not our vegan black bean brownies are ranked No. 1 in sales with the veggie burger and raw tacos close behind.

Tell me more about wheatgrass and your wheatgrass smoothies.

I have been growing it for more than 17 years now and am the first to bring it in the markets and grocery stores in the Des Moines area. I grow all of it myself and am very picky about it. I hand-select the seeds and mix our own soil to ensure it tastes the best. We also take good care of it and harvest it at the optimal time. Our fresh wheatgrass tastes much different than you think it will and definitely better than what you may find somewhere else.

I teach a “Wheatgrass 101” class every month at the cafe and it basically covers everything you would ever want to know about wheatgrass and how to grow your own.

Wheatgrass is raw and live. It is not pasteurized. It is best consumed right after it is juiced — all by itself as a “shot.” That’s our favorite way to serve it, but I’ve found that in order to get some people to drink it you have to mix it with something else.

One of my daughters is very picky, and I created a few drinks and smoothies that have it in it and she doesn’t even know (well, she does now and besides one is green ... our best-selling green lemonade). You can always ask to add it in one of your drinks, but we have come up with a few recipes that work really well with it and we make recommendations.

We also sell frozen wheatgrass juice, juicers, wheatgrass growing kits, seed, soil, wheatgrass by the pound and also live wheatgrass flats — basically everything you could ever want for wheatgrass. I also sell our wheatgrass to Campbells Nutrition and Fuel Juice Bar, where they juice it and serve it.

Our live plants can be found in the produce section of most Hy-Vee grocery stores in Iowa.

What made you decide on a raw, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free cafe?

It is the way I eat and it makes the most sense to me. We could have easily put in candy, soda pop and ice cream. After all, we are in a building with a dance studio that has more than 500 students and an educational resource center for children. We have been getting asked where the Diet Coke is for years, but I refuse to feed into that even if it means losing out on income.

I love to create food that people can feel good about eating, that is nutrient-rich and even healing. People have the misconception that healthy food is boring and tastes like cardboard. We are also really good at “vegan-ising” classic comfort foods. Lots of people can make vegan and vegetarian food that tastes good (just add salt and sugar) but not everyone can make it healthy, too.

For people who may be a little skeptical, what would you suggest they order the first time they are at the cafe?

They should try out the veggie burger or the raw tacos. People got really upset when we tried to take them off the menu completely, so they will always be on.

Do you offer any other services (catering, etc.)?

We love to cater and do special events. You may also see us at the Iowa Events Center as one of their healthy food vendors.

We do business and corporate “lunch and learns” as well as home classes/parties like: salads in a jar, juices and smoothies 101, top 10 super foods, quick and easy lunches and snacks and healthy holiday favorites.

We offer private cooking services in your home or prepared family-style meals for pickup.

Creating menus and meals for people on restrictive diets and for people recovering from illnesses and surgeries is our specialty. We also have juice and raw food packages that people can order and pick up daily.

Besides the cafe, what is your favorite place to eat in Des Moines?

I don’t eat out often, but it’s usually to grab a quick sandwich or bite to eat while I’m at Campbells Nutrition Center delivering grass to them, or I will meet a friend out at La Mie for lunch.

On the weekends our family loves to visit our friends at CabCo (Court Avenue Brew Pub) because they take care of us while we are working at the farmers market, and always make us something special.

We also eat at Iron Wok because they make their food fresh in front of us and sub tofu for any meat item on the menu, so we get cashew tofu a lot. I find that if we eat out, wherever we are the chefs are always accommodating to our vegan diet and create something awesome for us. We just have to ask.

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve seen in the food scene lately?

Buy Fresh Buy Local. I think it’s awesome that so many restaurants are finally jumping into buying fresh, local produce and featuring heirloom varieties, too.